Chapter 7
Lisa couldn’t believe how sore she was five days after they’d made love.
She wasn’t so sure she’d call it something so mundane as making love, but she’d enjoyed it so much that she didn’t know what else to call it.
Smiling a little smile, she felt Devlin tell her to behave, and she tried.
That was the best sex anyone in the world had had, and she’d fight someone if they said differently.
“I’m trying to concentrate here.” She told him that she wasn’t doing anything.
“I smell you every time you move. Just sit still, or I’m going to take you home and make love to you again, no matter how sore we both are.
” Giggling to him, she told him that neither one of them was up to it.
“I know that. You don’t think I know that.
Every time I put my shoes on, I can feel the tingling all over again. You nearly killed me.”
“I’ll behave next time you make me come like that.” She looked around the courtroom. “What do you suppose the holdup is now? They’ve had three days to get this thing taken care of. I know that they said it was due to the judge being ill, but that can’t be happening again, could it?”
“All we were told is that there is something wrong with the paperwork. Since I’m only second chairing this thing, that’s all they have to tell me.
Danny, the attorney that you called for us, said that he’d let me know when he does.
I trust him, but I don’t trust that Roman or his brother is going to get out of this mess with nothing more than a smack on the hand.
” She said they should let her smack him on the hand.
“You’d break it with your newfound magic.
I still feel bad that I didn’t tell you that you’d get it beforehand. ”
“I was out for most of it anyway. It’s all good.” She crossed her legs and stopped mid-motion. “I can’t believe the places that I’m still sore. I tried to cross my leg, and it felt like my hip was being taken out.”
“My lower back feels like I’ve been carrying barrels around for the last week, and they were full.
I’d not say anything to my brothers, but it almost seems as if we’re being punished for making love.
” She said she’d been thinking the same thing.
“At least we have the hot tub now. Lying in it at night sure has helped me get into bed easier.”
“The only thing that I have to complain about is that it’s too shallow.
I’m going to order one that is deeper than what we have.
That way, we can soak our shoulders in it as well.
Speaking of which, mine feel like I’ve been carrying you around for a week.
” He laughed, and she smiled. “I’m never going to make it if we have to make love like that again.
Perhaps your brother Ivan was right in that we should have taken it easy.
I thought he just meant you, but now I’m thinking that it was the two of us. ”
When the judge finally came out, she stood up with the rest of them.
Barely catching the moan that slipped between her teeth, she looked around to see if anyone had heard her.
Of course, with his brothers and sisters on either side of her, she knew they’d heard it.
All she wanted to do was to go home and take a nap. A week-long nap.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I’m sorry about the delay, but I wasn’t made aware of all the facts in this hearing until today.
Mr. James Roman will not be charged with anything that had to do with his brother Gary.
It is part of the deal that I made with his brother.
Mr. Roman is free to leave as soon as this trial is over.
” She was all right with that. He seemed like a nice man who got caught up in his brother’s scheme.
“However, Mr. Gary Roman will be heard from today. Are all parties ready?”
After they all agreed that they were ready, the pretrial began. Gary was brought out to the room, and she was shocked at the way he looked, like a man who had done hard time in a hard prison for years instead of the few weeks that it had been.
“Your honor, according to what we talked about, I’d like to speak now.
” The judge waved Gary on. “I’d like to tell Brandy and Lica Frazier that I’m sorry for causing a ruckus in their restaurant.
Also to Lisa Fraizer for treating her less than human in the way that I was yelling at her and the other staff that was at the Little Diner.
I hope you take that into consideration when you tell the judge what you want me to pay in the way of fines.
I’m truly a humbled man in what I did there and to Lisa.
Also, her husband. I shot him, and there is no excuse for it. ”
She expected him to say something about him being a big dog, but all he did was sit down in his seat.
Looking at Devlin when he turned to look at her, she shrugged her shoulders as if to tell him she didn’t understand either.
She did wonder if he was playing with them; this was some sort of scam he was doing to get out of the jail time he was going to do, but she didn’t know him well enough to know that for sure.
Just as the judge called the attorneys to his dais, she watched Gary.
He looked worn out. Not only that, but he looked like he needed a good haircut and shave. She didn’t know what had happened to him in the jailhouse, but she guessed that she liked it. He was beaten, she supposed, and it was no less than he deserved.
“His wife left him.” She looked over at Brandy when she spoke to her. “This isn’t the first time he’s been fired from a job for acting like a jackass, but it is the first time he’s been taken to court over it.”
“How come that didn’t come up in a background check?” She told her that it was because employers weren’t allowed to say anything other than that they did work for them. “That sucks. What if he’d robbed the place and been sent to jail?”
“That would have shown up on a police report. They wouldn’t be able to cover something like that up.
He’s been fired eight times for his working ethic and has been sent to anger management courses, too, which he was supposed to pass.
According to the information I was able to find, he never went to them at all.
” She said that was terrible. “Well, this will be in his records for anyone to find. His brother was going to be sighted for adding and abetting, but he’s getting off because of the deal that Gary made with our attorney.
I might not have taken it, but I didn’t know about it until it was too late.
I guess it’ll be all right. Gary is going to serve time and have his record created in a way that it’s going to be hard for him to find a job in the service industry. ”
“What about shooting Devlin? Is that even going to be mentioned?” She said that was going to be a separate trial for him because it happened on private property.
“I see. I guess that’s all right. I want him to have jail time because of the way he treated everyone, and because he shot Devlin.
I’m glad that it’s all being taken care of now. ”
“I have your back.” She knew that too. All the Fraziers had her back, too.
“Once this is over, we’ll all get together at our house and celebrate.
It’s been a long time coming, and the restaurant is doing so much better without him there.
I wish you could have stayed too, but I like you working for me in what you’re doing.
Who knew it would cost so little to make people happy working for me? ”
“I did.” She had an idea that Brandy knew how to make her employees happy where she worked, too, but didn’t say anything.
Brandy was sort of scary when she wanted to be.
Not that she’d taken her temper out on her, but she was watching herself around the other woman so that she’d not have to.
“I’ll have those reports finished up tomorrow if this doesn’t take too long.
I enjoy working for you in this way. I can live with myself, too, when I’m finished with talking to them as well. ”
Since Gary wanted things to go quickly, he was sentenced to ninety days in jail for the way he harassed his people at the restaurant.
Then he was given another five years for the gun specification.
Plus, he had to pay all doctors’ bills that Devlin incurred as he was being returned to health, and a five-thousand-dollar fine for having a gun in the first place.
All in all, it seemed like a good day for all the Fraziers.
It was nearly six when they were headed to Brandy and Lica’s home.
There was a catering truck just outside the door when they pulled in.
She didn’t know what it cost to have things catered, but she was glad that someone else was paying for it.
She’d finally remembered to tell Devlin about the check from Sen last night.
He said it would go a long way in getting things squared away with a lot of things, and they decided that they were going to hit a few auctions this weekend.
She was glad. She was sick of living in a partial house. She wanted things to be done as badly as Devlin did. They were still sleeping on an air mattress on the bed because their mattresses that they ordered hadn’t come in as yet.
The food, as usual, was delicious. There were grilled chicken breasts as well as scalloped and mashed potatoes.
There were hundreds, it seemed, of desserts, but she’d only had a few.
She was saving room for the treats that they had at home, in the way of raspberry sherbet with chocolate chips.
It had become an all-time favorite for the two of them.